Sakic, Avalanche back on top as Stanley Cup champions

TAMPA --Joe Sakic was rewarded with the ultimate payoff on Sunday after guiding the Colorado Avalanche through some dark days.

Sakic watched on as Colorado won the Stanley Cup for the third time in its history, and first since 2001, with a 2-1 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the Final at Amalie Arena.
It was the culmination of all the hard work he had put in since being hired as general manager and executive vice president of hockey operations on May 10, 2013.
At the time, Colorado had missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs in three straight seasons, causing Sakic to have some doubts before accepting the job.
"I wasn't sure, and now I'm really happy I made that decision," Sakic said. "You come into it, you work with great people and you learn. You're always trying to learn and trying to be better. We've got a close unit in the hockey operations department. It's so much fun to go to work every day with those guys, and to see them rewarded and this group of guys rewarded, it's everything. It makes it so special."
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Although the Avalanche won the Central Division in Sakic's first season as GM, they would fail to qualify for the postseason in each of the following three seasons, including 2016-17, when they finished last in the NHL with 48 points (22-56-4).
What followed, though, was the No. 4 selection in 2017 NHL Draft, which they used to pick Cale Makar, who won the Norris Trophy as the best defenseman in the League this season and Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs.
"Well worth it," Sakic said of those down seasons. "To be honest with you, you get a Makar, you get a (Bowen) Byram (No. 4 pick in 2019 NHL Draft), a (Nathan) MacKinnon No. 1 (2013 NHL Draft). As hard as it is to go through those things, that's how you get those players. I think you always try to win, but sometimes you need to go through tough times to get those players to eventually have this. It was well worth it. An amazing run for this group."
Defenseman Erik Johnson, the longest tenured player on the Avalanche, singled Sakic out for his steady guidance in rebuilding the team.
"He's just been calm and cool and stuck with us," Johnson said. "We finished last in the League in 2016-17, and Gabe [Landeskog] and I went to him and said, 'We want to be part of the solution here,' and he said, 'Well, can't make you any promises,' but he stuck with us and we got it done. And it's all worth it now. He deserves a lot of credit. He built a winner."

Sakic commended those who endured the rebuild.
"The guys that stuck around and wanted to be part of the rebuild back five years ago: Johnson, Landeskog, MacKinnon, (Mikko) Rantanen. These guys, I'm really happy for those guys," he said.
As a player, Sakic was one of the best players in Colorado/Quebec Nordiques history, finishing his Hall-of-Fame career with 1,641 points (625 goals, 1,016 assists) in 1,378 games.
He captained the Avalanche to a Stanley Cup championship twice, the first coming in 1996, when he won the Conn Smythe, and again in 2001, when he also captured the Hart Trophy as NHL most valuable player and the Ted Lindsay Award as the most outstanding player in the League as voted by members of the NHL Players' Association.
Having now won the Cup as a player and an executive, Sakic said the accomplishment as a player was easier to navigate.
"You just worry about getting ready for a game and playing and trying to help your team," he said. "When you have to sit upstairs and watch the last five minutes of a game, [my] heart was probably beating more than when I was a player."
The anxiety of the front office never bled into the locker room, though, even after Colorado lost 3-2 in Game 5 of the Final on home ice.
"I can tell you, [the hockey operations department] were probably more stressed than the coaching staff and the players," Sakic said. "We have no control. We're just watching. We try to help out every way we can, but this group, they got up the next day. We didn't have the best game, but it was a really entertaining Game 5, and I thought this series was amazing hockey, up and down and exciting, if you're a fan of the game. Yesterday and this morning we prepared for this game and didn't worry. They did a really good job this year of not worrying about what just happened the night before. This was a confident group that believes in the way they play and how they can play that they can beat anybody."
Sakic also applauded the Lightning for their run the past three seasons, falling two wins shy of becoming the first team to win the Stanley Cup in three straight seasons since the New York Islanders won four straight from 1980-83.
"So much respect for Tampa," Sakic said. "They were trying to go for three in a row. That's hard to do. It was hard to do pre-cap, never mind now. (General manager) Julien BriseBois and the entire organization, that's who we're trying to beat. Everyone wants to be the champion. Two-time [champions], and to play them in the Final and have a chance to knock off the champ was even more special for this group. What an outstanding organization. That was a heck of a hockey team."